Secrets of Highclere Castle

If, like us, you gawp at the sheer splendor of the Grantham family's demesne in Downton Abbey, Secrets of Highclere Castle will up the ante exponentially. Located in Hampshire on a 1,000-acre estate, the 1300-year-old castle is gargantuan, and there's so much more to discover than is glimpsed in the series. For centuries it has been the home and ancestral seat of the aristocratic Carnarvon family, and has hosted kings, queens, nobles, and celebrities; an ancestor of the modern-day Lord and Lady Carnarvon bankrolled the expeditions that found the tomb of Tutankhamen. Hidden within secret compartments at Highclere are centuries-old Egyptian relics, while in the basement are replicas of the contents of the tomb itself. During World War I, the castle was a key military hospital where soldiers were welcomed by Lady Almina, the 5th Countess. When the Prince of Wales came for a postwar shooting party at Highclere—the social epicenter of Edwardian England—the food bill alone came to $30,000!